daily 50 mile commute
Discussion
I spent a year commuting 42 miles from Luton to Hayes. Average journey time was just over and hour setting out at 6am. Friday evenings, leaving at 5pm would often take two and a half hours, plus another bit queuing in the chippy. That was 15 years ago, the motorways are a bit wider, so a minor prang will have less effect, but it really won't be much fun.
Just no. Unless you get out very early you'll be driving some of the most congested roads in the uk outside London.
Where in Berks and I'll plan a best route to see.
Ps I did 90 miles each way from Maidenhead to Solihull for 2 years but that was against the traffic and long days. Leave 7 each end.
Mike
Where in Berks and I'll plan a best route to see.
Ps I did 90 miles each way from Maidenhead to Solihull for 2 years but that was against the traffic and long days. Leave 7 each end.
Mike
mikees said:
Just no. Unless you get out very early you'll be driving some of the most congested roads in the uk outside London.
Where in Berks and I'll plan a best route to see.
Ps I did 90 miles each way from Maidenhead to Solihull for 2 years but that was against the traffic and long days. Leave 7 each end.
Mike
I am in Woodly.Where in Berks and I'll plan a best route to see.
Ps I did 90 miles each way from Maidenhead to Solihull for 2 years but that was against the traffic and long days. Leave 7 each end.
Mike
Google says one hour without traffic but i doubt it specially on the way back home.
I have colleagues who commute to Milton Keynes from Woking and Sandhurst.
They typically see 90 minutes - 2 hours each way during rush hour and will quite often stay overnight or work from home a few days a week to save on the commute time.
There's almost always a problem somewhere on the M3, M4, M1 junctions on the M25 or around the Luton section of the M1 which causes a jam or delays.
They typically see 90 minutes - 2 hours each way during rush hour and will quite often stay overnight or work from home a few days a week to save on the commute time.
There's almost always a problem somewhere on the M3, M4, M1 junctions on the M25 or around the Luton section of the M1 which causes a jam or delays.
I commute from Hampshire to Luton daily, to be honest it doesn't bother me too much. I'm generally going against the worst of the traffic. I start early and finish early though, so leave home at about 5am which gets me in the office for just after 6. I then leave at 3pm Mon to Thursday and 2:30pm on Friday which I try to be disciplined about. If I'm away on time I normally get ahead of the traffic and am home for 4:30 to 4:45 but being even a few minutes late leaving can dramatically increase the journey time. I've been doing it for years now so am pretty good about predicting the traffic ahead and have a few alternative routes which I use when things get clogged up. The trick is not to wait until you're stuck in a jam but to divert early before everyone else has the same idea and the alternative routes block too. The worst time of year by far is the school summer holidays - hell on earth on the M25 then, particularly on a Friday.
It also helps having a car provided by my company which gets replaced regularly otherwise I don't think the depreciation and maintenance costs would make it sustainable.
All that said, I wouldn't miss the commute in the slightest if it stopped tomorrow. Unfortunately personal circumstances at the moment make it the lesser of all evils.
It also helps having a car provided by my company which gets replaced regularly otherwise I don't think the depreciation and maintenance costs would make it sustainable.
All that said, I wouldn't miss the commute in the slightest if it stopped tomorrow. Unfortunately personal circumstances at the moment make it the lesser of all evils.
Trevelyan said:
I commute from Hampshire to Luton daily, to be honest it doesn't bother me too much. I'm generally going against the worst of the traffic. I start early and finish early though, so leave home at about 5am which gets me in the office for just after 6. I then leave at 3pm Mon to Thursday and 2:30pm on Friday which I try to be disciplined about. If I'm away on time I normally get ahead of the traffic and am home for 4:30 to 4:45 but being even a few minutes late leaving can dramatically increase the journey time. I've been doing it for years now so am pretty good about predicting the traffic ahead and have a few alternative routes which I use when things get clogged up. The trick is not to wait until you're stuck in a jam but to divert early before everyone else has the same idea and the alternative routes block too. The worst time of year by far is the school summer holidays - hell on earth on the M25 then, particularly on a Friday.
It also helps having a car provided by my company which gets replaced regularly otherwise I don't think the depreciation and maintenance costs would make it sustainable.
All that said, I wouldn't miss the commute in the slightest if it stopped tomorrow. Unfortunately personal circumstances at the moment make it the lesser of all evils.
Either having a company car or working 2 days from home would make a big difference otherwise you need to think twice if this job is worth considering.It also helps having a car provided by my company which gets replaced regularly otherwise I don't think the depreciation and maintenance costs would make it sustainable.
All that said, I wouldn't miss the commute in the slightest if it stopped tomorrow. Unfortunately personal circumstances at the moment make it the lesser of all evils.
The average part time salary is about what, £6,5k pa? I'm saying this because you're going to be spending 15-18 hours a week getting to and from work, which is time away from your family. On top of that, you've got the cost to get there and back, with an average diesel car that's around £1800pa. Then the cost of the car and /or it's depreciation. You're either going to buy cheap and often at a grand a time, or you're going to lose f
kloads of money in depreciation and servicing. Let's say £3kpa
Grand total: £11k getting to work, exc the cost of not seeing your friends and family
Worth it still?
kloads of money in depreciation and servicing. Let's say £3kpaGrand total: £11k getting to work, exc the cost of not seeing your friends and family
Worth it still?
andy-xr said:
The average part time salary is about what, £6,5k pa? I'm saying this because you're going to be spending 15-18 hours a week getting to and from work, which is time away from your family. On top of that, you've got the cost to get there and back, with an average diesel car that's around £1800pa. Then the cost of the car and /or it's depreciation. You're either going to buy cheap and often at a grand a time, or you're going to lose fkloads of money in depreciation and servicing. Let's say £3kpa
Grand total: £11k getting to work, exc the cost of not seeing your friends and family
Worth it still?
It depends entirely on the personal circumstances.kloads of money in depreciation and servicing. Let's say £3kpaGrand total: £11k getting to work, exc the cost of not seeing your friends and family
Worth it still?
My friends who do this are contractors with skills and expertise in very specific technologies (think SAP etc). They are highly sought after for implementation projects which last many months at a time but will ultimately come to an end. The pool of clients tends to be much smaller and concentrated in areas where the head offices of major retailers tend to be. The work is lucrative and mentally rewarding but you do need to go where the clients are.
It helps that many of them have grown up children who have left home and so they're at the stage where this sort of career can work for them.
Chicken Chaser said:
I'm about to go from a 5 mile to a 46 mile commute each way and although the job pays well, I'm still undecided whether I'm willing to sacrifice 2 to 3 hrs a day on the motorway for it.
It rather depends on those 46 miles. If it's clear-running roads (e.g. out of peak time) then I don't see it would be a hassle. If it's a fixed set of hours and a rubbish set of roads then I suspect you are going to be very unhappy. Don't forget the cost of fuel, servicing, depreciation on your car. Plus the higher up you go in salary the more you pay in tax. eltawater said:
It depends entirely on the personal circumstances.
My friends who do this are contractors with skills and expertise in very specific technologies (think SAP etc). They are highly sought after for implementation projects which last many months at a time but will ultimately come to an end. The pool of clients tends to be much smaller and concentrated in areas where the head offices of major retailers tend to be. The work is lucrative and mentally rewarding but you do need to go where the clients are.
It helps that many of them have grown up children who have left home and so they're at the stage where this sort of career can work for them.
Sure, I think that's a choice they made a) to go contracting and b) to follow the money. My friends who do this are contractors with skills and expertise in very specific technologies (think SAP etc). They are highly sought after for implementation projects which last many months at a time but will ultimately come to an end. The pool of clients tends to be much smaller and concentrated in areas where the head offices of major retailers tend to be. The work is lucrative and mentally rewarding but you do need to go where the clients are.
It helps that many of them have grown up children who have left home and so they're at the stage where this sort of career can work for them.
It's what your line is really. I've done big commutes over the years, for reasons of 'the job's over there, you need to be able to get there for 9am' when I either didnt want to live where 'there' was or it was just far enough to think I'll see how it goes. But it was my choice to accept them and I did that on what I thought would be a perm basis, rather than contracting for a set amount of time.
I think there's a difference there, if you set out thinking 'I know this is for 6 months' then it's probably easier to stomach than 'I need to do this as long as I'm working at this place' You also need to afford to be able to do it. Many contractors are on travel exes as well, so it's not their money and sometimes the clock starts ticking the moment they walk out the door, other times it's when they clock in on site.
These days I work from home and travel as and when. I'm out in the US all next week, then home for a fortnight, then Germany, then Netherlands, then Eastern Europe for a few days. Home for 3 weeks and then US again. But to me, I dont commute, and that's really important to me. There's no way I could do an hour grind to get to where I'd be working. My limit would be about 20 minutes
Flooble said:
It rather depends on those 46 miles. If it's clear-running roads (e.g. out of peak time) then I don't see it would be a hassle. If it's a fixed set of hours and a rubbish set of roads then I suspect you are going to be very unhappy. <snip>
Very much this - at the moment I have a 30 mile, 55 minute commute along fairly quiet rural A and B roads and it's all fairly pleasant, allows me to relax in the mornings and on the drive home, when I'm on the bike it's quite fun. However, if I stay at my girlfriend's house that commute changes to 25 miles, 70 minutes that have the first 5 miles in a city and the rest on busy roads and I get to work feeling a lot worse! My commute is Newbury to Chippenham
That's 50 miles each way.
I quite like it.
just under an hour each way... I leave work at 5:30 and get home roughly 6:20...
Only ever had traffic once. (due to an accident).
Going Eastbound on the M4 you will hit a bit more traffic but it's not that bad and usually keeps rolling.
I don't know how that can possibly be a 2-3 hour journey.
I wouldn't like to do mine 5 days a week, I go in once or twice a week. But time wise it's fine
That's 50 miles each way.
I quite like it.
just under an hour each way... I leave work at 5:30 and get home roughly 6:20...
Only ever had traffic once. (due to an accident).
Going Eastbound on the M4 you will hit a bit more traffic but it's not that bad and usually keeps rolling.
I don't know how that can possibly be a 2-3 hour journey.
I wouldn't like to do mine 5 days a week, I go in once or twice a week. But time wise it's fine
I do 38 miles each way from Melksham to the centre of Bristol... on a good day (leaving at 6:45am) it takes me 50 minutes to get in and (leaving at 4.30pm) 70 minutes to get home.
On a bad day (yesterday was the worst in 7 months) that morning trip can take 2hrs and if I leave after 5pm then it can take that to get home too.
I wouldn't do it by choice, but I'm not prepared to relocate and so must travel to where the job is!
On a bad day (yesterday was the worst in 7 months) that morning trip can take 2hrs and if I leave after 5pm then it can take that to get home too.
I wouldn't do it by choice, but I'm not prepared to relocate and so must travel to where the job is!
eltawater said:
andy-xr said:
The average part time salary is about what, £6,5k pa? I'm saying this because you're going to be spending 15-18 hours a week getting to and from work, which is time away from your family. On top of that, you've got the cost to get there and back, with an average diesel car that's around £1800pa. Then the cost of the car and /or it's depreciation. You're either going to buy cheap and often at a grand a time, or you're going to lose fkloads of money in depreciation and servicing. Let's say £3kpa
Grand total: £11k getting to work, exc the cost of not seeing your friends and family
Worth it still?
It depends entirely on the personal circumstances.kloads of money in depreciation and servicing. Let's say £3kpaGrand total: £11k getting to work, exc the cost of not seeing your friends and family
Worth it still?
My friends who do this are contractors with skills and expertise in very specific technologies (think SAP etc). They are highly sought after for implementation projects which last many months at a time but will ultimately come to an end. The pool of clients tends to be much smaller and concentrated in areas where the head offices of major retailers tend to be. The work is lucrative and mentally rewarding but you do need to go where the clients are.
It helps that many of them have grown up children who have left home and so they're at the stage where this sort of career can work for them.
I'm based in Kent and my last contact was Exeter, I'm now working in Watford. Thats a 130 mile round trip commute every day!!! I was recently offered another role, in Hatfield.
Contracting pays well, but don't expect a dream job on your doorstep. You need to go where the work is.
I do from near M25 J21 to Bracknell every day (about 45 miles each way) with no problems. The timing is key and obviously having a flexible employer helps with this! You also want a comfortable automatic diesel, better still with adaptive cruise. Generally takes me 1hr - 1hr 10 one way. Previously I was working in town and got the train to work which took the same time but cost a lot more.
I think that is the limit though as I wouldn't really want to commute much further! But right now I'm happy with where i work and live
I think that is the limit though as I wouldn't really want to commute much further! But right now I'm happy with where i work and live
Edited by va1o on Friday 20th May 19:16
I would say 2 hours in bad traffic
Youll be stressed and tired when you start and finish work, will be always tired and it will take its toll on your body.
Unless you plan on making a lot of money for a few years then I wouldnt do it if its a humdrum job. Move closer or get a job closer to home.
Youll be stressed and tired when you start and finish work, will be always tired and it will take its toll on your body.
Unless you plan on making a lot of money for a few years then I wouldnt do it if its a humdrum job. Move closer or get a job closer to home.
xjay1337 said:
My commute is Newbury to Chippenham
That's 50 miles each way.
I quite like it.
just under an hour each way... I leave work at 5:30 and get home roughly 6:20...
Only ever had traffic once. (due to an accident).
Going Eastbound on the M4 you will hit a bit more traffic but it's not that bad and usually keeps rolling.
I don't know how that can possibly be a 2-3 hour journey.
I wouldn't like to do mine 5 days a week, I go in once or twice a week. But time wise it's fine
Doing it once a week is a novelty,mdoing it every single day of your working life will grind you down.That's 50 miles each way.
I quite like it.
just under an hour each way... I leave work at 5:30 and get home roughly 6:20...
Only ever had traffic once. (due to an accident).
Going Eastbound on the M4 you will hit a bit more traffic but it's not that bad and usually keeps rolling.
I don't know how that can possibly be a 2-3 hour journey.
I wouldn't like to do mine 5 days a week, I go in once or twice a week. But time wise it's fine
If you leave at 530pm and are home for 745-8pm you need to eat so may have eaten by 830pm. Are you really going to then play sport or go to the gym? Probably not. So youd sit on the sofa and gradually turn fat and unhealthy. Youd have a couple of hours free time before going to bed thinking about tomorrows early 0600 alarm to dash about the house before you grab an unhealthy breakfast before dashing out of the door at 0630 just in case theres an accident en route.
Friday will come and youll be too tired to do anything.
Personally id say its no way to live a rewarding life.
Clearly though if its working for a hedge fund or to do something short term it could work
xjay1337 said:
My commute is Newbury to Chippenham
That's 50 miles each way.
I quite like it.
just under an hour each way... I leave work at 5:30 and get home roughly 6:20...
Only ever had traffic once. (due to an accident).
Going Eastbound on the M4 you will hit a bit more traffic but it's not that bad and usually keeps rolling.
I don't know how that can possibly be a 2-3 hour journey.
I wouldn't like to do mine 5 days a week, I go in once or twice a week. But time wise it's fine
Doing it once a week is a novelty,mdoing it every single day of your working life will grind you down.That's 50 miles each way.
I quite like it.
just under an hour each way... I leave work at 5:30 and get home roughly 6:20...
Only ever had traffic once. (due to an accident).
Going Eastbound on the M4 you will hit a bit more traffic but it's not that bad and usually keeps rolling.
I don't know how that can possibly be a 2-3 hour journey.
I wouldn't like to do mine 5 days a week, I go in once or twice a week. But time wise it's fine
If you leave at 530pm and are home for 745-8pm you need to eat so may have eaten by 830pm. Are you really going to then play sport or go to the gym? Probably not. So youd sit on the sofa and gradually turn fat and unhealthy. Youd have a couple of hours free time before going to bed thinking about tomorrows early 0600 alarm to dash about the house before you grab an unhealthy breakfast before dashing out of the door at 0630 just in case theres an accident en route.
Friday will come and youll be too tired to do anything.
Personally id say its no way to live a rewarding life.
Clearly though if its working for a hedge fund or to do something short term it could work
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff